So, what the hell is actually going on with the Night Parrot?

October 2018

You're probably reading this because you're just as confused, misled and/or flummoxed as myself, and seemingly the entire birding community, regarding the most recent developments in the ongoing Night Parrot saga. It's hard to know where to even begin, so my mission for today is to attempt to simply outline what has been unravelling since last week. I'll leave the speculation, gossip and rumour-mongering to others, and try to only outline 'the facts' at least as we know them. Suffice to say, it is a very complicated issue and will most likely remain unresolved for a very, very long time. Either way, here's a summary, make of it as you will. I apologise in advance if I've seemingly left out anything deemed important, as you'll see, there's a lot to try to cover.

Firstly, it is important to state that John Young is an incredible naturalist, probably one of the greatest that our country has ever seen. Secondly, he most certainly did find the Night Parrot and was the first to photograph and video a live specimen. Finally, for all those achievements I personally only have the utmost respect.

The article itself gives a reasonably well detailed report on the history of the Night Parrot, likening it often to the Ivory-billed Woodpecker (to help give American's a greater context of this species), before discussing the general controversy surrounding John Young (the fabled re-discoverer of this species), his past failings, the involvement of various organisations (AWC in particular), and recent claims/reports in texts such as Penny Olsen's latest book and a variety of other things (read the article above).

​Following Greg's post, one Australia's biggest figures in ornithology, Jeff Davies simply commented on the post acknowledging that one of photographs in the Audubon article revealed bird wire in the corner of the image. When I read this comment, I did even know what to really make of it. The implications of course were massive and go against all of our understanding of the Night Parrot concerning its initial discovery and John Young's entire accounts of how it transpired. Here is the picture published by the Audubon society, which was provided ultimately by John Young and the AWC. As you can clearly see, there is bird wire in the top right hand corner.

A Night Parrot Young photographed in 2013. Photo: John Young/AWC

For those waiting for the clarification, the presumption from this image is obviously that the bird is in fact captive and not wild and free-flying which is what was so painstakingly advertised by John Young and his team at the time of it's publication and announcement (the capture of a such a species holds enormous fines). Once again, you can read what apparently happened in the Audubon article above. The summary as provided by Audubon is...

"Young had been camping on Brighton Downs for nearly a month when he first heard the Night Parrot’s two-note whistle in April 2007. When he mimicked it—dink dink—a pair landed nearby.

He recorded the call but couldn’t see the birds to take a photo. They didn’t reappear the following nights. Over the next several years, he expanded his soul-sucking search to encompass all of interior Australia. “The harder it became, the more driven I became,” he says. In 2011, he remarried and tried to rebuild his home life, but the bush kept calling him back. On May 26, 2013, he finally captured photographs and video of the Night Parrot at Brighton Downs that he could present to the world unaltered."

Of course, many years later, we know that pictures were not in fact presented 'unaltered' but had been photoshopped to apparently removed a twig of spinifex off the birds back, a very poor decision given the field naturalist past misgivings (more on that later).

This is where the controversy starts to come into its own. To quote Jeff Davies "Open your eyes and allow the truth in". The controversy ultimately being that John did not photograph a wild bird whatsoever, but in fact illegally captured one, man-handled it, lied about it and a variety of other things (that have at least been suggested by keyboard warriors online).

There are great claims however by John Young and his team, that they took hundreds of photos of the bird "coming out from the spinifex with what appeared to be a threat display", and yet only a single image of these has ever been released (and a doctored photo at the very least). Following on from this, Queensland birder Peter Valentine discovered that this image of the NP, with bird mesh in the same image, had in fact been used in an article by Audubon over years prior (article available at: www.audubon.org/news/yes-more-australian-night-parrots-have-been-discovered).

John Young showing Night Parrot holes in the spinifex (Queensland)

​For some, they don't understand the controversy of it all, and perhaps to a certain degree, that is fair enough. A common misconception is that people believed that the Night Parrot was extinct, or at least considered so. This is completely false, and has been spurned on by early articles that exaggerate often in titles "Australian naturalist rediscovers extinct species", etc. No one doubts that he did in fact capture the first images and video of this species, but he did not in fact rediscover an extinct species.

​The reason really for the controversy is the above picture clearly goes against everything that John originally claimed in his rediscovery. He told us, and the press, that he photographed wild birds, and that they were specifically not captured or handled. He went further on to state that they are a fragile species that do not respond well to close encounters. The image shows that the bird was obviously enclosed within a constructed bird wire cage. The image also shows that the bird has feathers which are out of place, suggesting it has been handled (this has also been echoed by serious and experienced aviculturists).

The reason for all the secrecy and potential lies at this moment are unclear, though there are many voicing their opinions on Young's actions and jumping to all sorts of conclusions online. It is not for this summary to comment on them. But I do agree, it certainly does not add up and asks a lot of serious questions.

​The next major thing to transpire was a status by John Young announcing the following: "So it is heard here first before things get misconstrued..last Wednesday morning I got a call from AWC..past on to an individual to ring me..directed from the board asking for my immediate resignation which I accepted with displeasure." ​He also goes on to talk about his achievements with conservation, before he acknowledges he will never have anything to do with the Night Parrot again and will be shutting down his Facebook page imminently.

As expected, John received much support from his Facebook friends, a particular birder even acknowledging the prominent unhealthy addiction Australians seem to have with the tall poppy syndrome. To my annoyance, there have been a considerable number of birders who have both slagged off John publicly but then also sent him supportive statements. What's that saying about having two-faces? To most, he will always be the man who rediscovered the species. So why is that not good enough for everyone? It is however worth mention that John himself did not actually address any of the issues raised by the Audubon article and alleged captured bird.

Look out, the next part of this is a bit of a slog. Lloyd Neilsen, a renowned birder, scientist and close friend of Young's stepped forward to publicly comment on the rapidly unravelling story. Here are those comments copy-pasted identically below.

For the record and to put things in a proper order –

The netting: I haven't spoken to John since this came up but it looks very much like side panels from a collapsible feral cat trap which have been used (hand held) to stop the bird darting back under the spinifex which it would have quickly done. I probably would have an accomplice use something like that in that situation if I were trying to photograph a Night Parrot. Looking closely, there is one panel behind another, at different angles. If it were the wall of a fence or cage, it would be a single, straight panel. When I used to visit the inland regularly, I carried three collapsible cat traps (which I made myself out of similar material) and was able to dispose of probably a few hundred cats over that time. I know that John often carried cat traps when he went into the inland. We probably saved a few Night Parrots over the years into the bargain!

I find it impossible to believe that he would purposely trap a Night Parrot, hold it for 24 hours, build an enclosure then photograph it. Further, he would have had to have been absolutely crazy to offer a picture such as that if he had captured the bird (very much illegal to capture an endangered species without permits), held it and later photographed it.

He and I went through several hundred of the photographs a couple of days after they were taken and the bird acted normally in a number of different situations and in different surrounds (as he and his accomplice followed it through the spinifex). For the most part, the bird was acting as one would expect such a bird to do. However, it didn't fly off as he expected it would eventually (may be because of the torch light) but eventually found its way under a spinifex clump. The live footage shows the bird walking normally down a path between spinifex clumps. Murphy ("Night Parrot" p. 294) had a similar experience when he fell over right beside a parrot and it did not move, but remained with "wings hanging".

There was only ever one bird photographed (2013). John photographed the bird before he joined AWC. When with that organisation, they then had him search for more birds in Diamantina NP – AWC was contributing to a 40 km fence – I think for protection of Bilbies. John was given the job of finding Night Parrot habitat and birds inside the fence. That is when he found nests of the parrot. Then Brendan Borrell appeared on the scene with the intention of writing the article for Audubon. John offered his own photographs of the bird to go the article. I spoke to John's now ex-boss (AWC) only a couple of days ago and he and John worked together to select that photo. Unfortunately neither noticed the mesh. Had it been photographed as a captured bird in an enclosure, John would have been very aware of selecting a photo which did not show that.

One of John's comments in "Night Parrot" as quoted by Ms Olsen supports his outlook when he commented on Steve Murphy's effort to net a bird, i.e. "It beggars belief that he netted one of the birds from that site. What would have happened if it died in the net! We are playing with one of the least known birds in the world. Leave them alone".

Further, I think we should all remember that John is a champion conservationist with many very big runs on the board and has done some remarkable things for the preservation of wildlife and habitat. For example, the amazing Tyto Wetlands at Ingham was his brainchild – an $18 million dollar investment by the local Shire Council, converted from a clapped out cane field and now one of the leading wetland complexes in Australia. He received so much abuse from some in the local community when he proposed it and while it was being built from people who could see no further than their noses but he stuck to it with a small but strong group who could see the huge advantages it would bring to their local community.

He and David Hollands were responsible for having "Klerat" banned, a highly toxic chemical the sugar-cane industry was using to kill rats in cane but which was wiping out several owl species, some very rare.

He was mostly responsible for saving a huge area of lowland habitat of the restricted, endangered Mahogany Glider in north Queensland which was earmarked for clearing and sugar-cane production. There are other equally as important examples where he achieved great results.

Consequently, I cannot imagine that someone with such care for wildlife and the environment would deliberately trap a Night Parrot.

In the 28–30 years or so I have known and worked with John, I have never known him to deliberately lie. David Hollands also agrees with that. David has probably put in more time with him than I have although John and I have done a lot of field work together over many years.

Finally, I don't think there is a strong enough word to describe my disgust with the situation, all started by a savage vendetta by one individual who kept it alive over many years and to which John never retaliated. Consequently, AWC have lost probably the best field man of all times – a questionable decision by a seemingly aloof and very much looking like a naive board! The field and management staff were equally as devastated about the dismissal and only a week before, he was told he had a job for life. Just recently, he found a couple of amazing and important things on one of AWC's remote properties but that now will probably be lost forever. No one else has the skills to find those again.

He an I have been working on a joint project on Buff-breasted Button-quail, mostly on AWC's Brooklyn Station near Mt Molloy. We needed another year to finalise it before writing it up. Now the future of that is hanging in the balance.

Finally, please give the man a break and honour and recognise him for what he has achieved!

(For anyone who has not seen the letter written to BirdLife Australia covering this saga by one of our fine ornithologists, David Hollands, I would recommend reading it. It is available on several websites and some Facebook pages).

On another matter, let's not thrash the fig-parrot saga to death once again. There is much more to this story than has been released publicly. I was present at O'Reilly's at the time it was stupidly announced as a new species. That was not John's idea. He and I were both against it and discussed it that afternoon for we both knew what was intended. He was pushed into it. For the record, the fig-parrot WAS Coxen's. I saw the birds that had been photographed in the flesh with my own eyes shortly after. That is all I am going to say on this matter

PS. Just a few minutes ago, I spoke to John. Firstly, he has confirmed that the netting was only a couple of side panels from a feral cat trap. The bad news is that he has decided to withdraw from social media, close his Facebook page down in a day or so, withdraw from all bird orientated comment and conversation and no longer will he be discussing the Night Parrot. I fear Australian ornithology has just lost a great field man. Thanks to that small band who contributed to that!

If there is anything important to discuss on this matter, I will respond but I will not be involved with anything other than that.

Firstly, this summary here is not going to dive into the whole Fig Parrot saga, that rightfully deserves its own post. But Lloyd's comments generally just fuel further questions. So, let's break some of this down.

Regarding the netting. If it is simply a cat trap (which do not seem to be buying presently), simply a wider framed image would put the whole issue to rest. As of the posting of this article, not photo evidence has been provided to simply show the wiring was actually just a cat trap. Make of that as you will. Further more, a clever birder acknowledges on Facebook, that if cat traps had actually been used to stop the bird running around to get clearer images, this is still a completely different account to what John initially provided.

Lloyd claims that he and John went through "several hundred of the photographs". Another way to put this discussion to rest would be then to release more of these images. Questions are being asked as to why only a few images have been shared, and the most of which (as mentioned earlier), was in fact doctored by photoshop.

Additionally, another very notable figure in ornithology Nikolas Haas comments that John also claimed to have a 30 second long film of this experience. So why has the public only ever seen a truncated 3-4 second version of this? I agree with his comment when he says "While John did a fantastic job finding the Night Parrot, I don't understand the lack of professionality (or is it sloppiness?) regarding the actual data."

All of this aside, I think it's the next revelation that really pushed the whole saga to an utter ridiculous level.

Let's briefly backtrack for some context. In September this year, the AWC claimed to have captured recordings of the Night Parrot at their site in Kalamurina in South Australia. Here is the link to the original article, though you will find AWC have now shut it down (www.australianwildlife.org/field-updates/2018/kalamurina-night-parrot.aspx). Thankfully we have a screenshot from the article provided below...

To me, and many others, this looks and sounds like fantastic news! More proof of Night Parrot, now from a third site! Here's a quote from highly respected ornithologist Nigel Jackett to through all of that completely out the window.

"One recent event very lightly touched upon in the article was the sound recorders at Kalamurina. It was recently announced in the media that calls have been confirmed from Kalamurina. This included four 'duets', very similar to those from Western Australia. Well, having recorded those WA calls myself, I can very confidently say that the Kalamurina calls released are the exact duet (repeated four times), available for download on https://nightparrot.com.au/.../resources/night-parrot-calls/ . At this point in time, it is safe to say no Night Parrot calls have been confirmed from South Australia."

Yes, you read that right. The recordings of the Night Parrot from the AWC Kalamurina site in South Australia, as far as we can tell, are completely fabricated. Unconvinced? Here's some evidence below, once again provided by Nigel Jackett.

"A sonagram of one of the duets from Kalamurina, compared to the duet available online. Note the exact timing of the duet."

"Possibly a more useful visual is this comparison. It shows the duration of each hollow whistle in a duet, the silent gap, and then the didit response. Note the top 4 AWC duets are essentially the same, and match the duet in red (from nightparrot.com.au). The duets in blue are consecutive duets from WA all on the same night, showing that every duet is different in its timing. The Kalamurina duets lacked any variation."

Nigel also mentions that besides the timing being absolutely identical, "the peak frequency and decibel level difference was identical for the four duets as well". What further proof do you need? #SpeakGate indeed Adrian Boyle. To me, the most horrifying part of all this is the fact that an organisation, particularly one as renowned as the AWC is now very caught up in a complete fabrication concerning both a species and naturalist that already has so much controversy. Perhaps this has something to do with why the CEO of AWC suddenly and unexpectedly resigned only a month ago? We are all (im)patiently waiting for a public response from the AWC.

​I could very easily continue with various bits and pieces all from the issues outline above, but it's very hard to know where to start and when to start. Majority of the remaining conversations online fall into a rather heated argument based around the fig parrot, lack of evidence and the occasional aggressive comment from person to person. This summary is not a place for recapping that.

Possibly the best way I can see of ending this 'recap' is by taking a post by Andrew Stafford, who wonderfully summarises the issues and questions at hand.

1. What is the mesh in the corner of the Aubudon published image? If they are just cat traps, can we have images that prove this? 2. Why does the Night Parrot have displaced feathers? Was the bird handled or captured which is what is now being alleged?3. Why was the discovery of the Night Parrot kept quiet for over 6 years (first found in 2007, but was announced in 2013)4. What on earth is the truth behind the AWC Kulumurina recordings? 5. What are the exact reasons for John's termination from the AWC?

Before leaving, I would just like to say, that I have absolutely nothing against John Young or any of the birders and their opinions mentioned above. Like most, I just would like the truth and know exactly what happened and is now continue to happen. The story and understand is just too fraught with mystery, inconsistency, conflicting evidence/accounts etc to be acceptable for any species, let alone one of this significance.

​I hope I've helped to catch you up on the unfolding Night Parrot events, however if I've confused you further, I don't blame you.

James Mustafa is a birder, wildlife enthusiast and self-confessed twitcher from Melbourne, Australia. A musician and composer by trade, he has been birding, exploring nature and appreciate wildlife for all his life. Since taking up a real fascination with birds, he has soared with tropicbirds in the Indian Ocean, chased owls in North America, danced with kiwi in New Zealand and twitched everything from gulls to leaf warblers across Australia.